Staff Detail

Hugh Freeze

A winning tradition at the highest level of NCAA collegiate football was brought to Liberty Mountain when Hugh Freeze was introduced as the ninth head coach in football program history on Dec. 7, 2018.

Freeze brought over 25 years of continued coaching success to Liberty, including head coaching experience that has led to conference titles, nationally ranked recruiting classes and bowl appearances at multiple stops during his highly decorated career.

Prior to being named Liberty's ninth head football coach, Freeze's collegiate head coaching stops have included Lambuth University (2008-09), Arkansas State (2011) and Ole Miss (2012-16) where he posted a combined 42-32 mark in eight seasons (See ^ note below for more information about career coaching record).

The native of Oxford, Miss., returned to his hometown school and led it back to championship form during his five seasons as head coach at Ole Miss.

Freeze guided Ole Miss to bowl games during three of his five years with the Rebels, including victories in the Music City bowl (2013 season) and the Sugar Bowl (2015 season).

Freeze's time in Oxford was highlighted by a 10-3 campaign in 2015, the program's first 10-win season since 2003. The Rebels won their first four games of the 2015 season, including a 43-37 road victory over No. 2 Alabama, Ole Miss' first win in Tuscaloosa, Ala., since 1988.

Alabama went on to claim the national title, finishing the season with a 14-1 overall record. The Crimson Tide's loss to Ole Miss marked the third time in program history that the Rebels were the national champion's only loss during their championship season.

The 2015 campaign also included a thrilling 38-27 win over No. 21 Mississippi State in its rivalry "Egg Bowl" game with the Bulldogs and a 48-20 win over No. 16 Oklahoma State in a New Year's Six bowl game in a Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl contest.

Ole Miss was ranked as high as No. 3 in the national polls in both 2014 and 2015 and finished top 10 in the country for the first time since 1969 after the Sugar Bowl win (No. 9 in the coaches poll and No. 10 in the Associated Press poll).

Ole Miss was a mainstay in the national polls during Freeze's tenure, including top 25 rankings for 45 weeks over his five-year coaching stay and a string of 27-straight weeks in the polls for the first time since 1957-62.

In 2013, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) awarded Freeze the Grant Teaff Coach of the Year award. Freeze has been heavily involved with FCA during his entire coaching career and has been featured in the FCA Magazine and spoken at FCA functions.

Freeze was also a finalist for the 2014 Bear Bryant Award and the 2014 Dobb Trophy. The Bear Bryant Award is given annually to the top NCAA National Coach of the Year, while the Dobb Trophy honors the head coach whose team excels on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Freeze has an eye for the nation's most talented high school players, collecting four nationally ranked recruiting classes at Ole Miss. In 2013 and 2016, his recruiting classes ranked in the top five nationally, making them the best in program history.

Treadwell was named Ole Miss' first ever SEC Freshman of the Year in 2013 and became the school's first Biletnikoff Award finalist in 2015. Nkemdiche was the first defensive lineman to be named a Hornung Award finalist. Engram won the Ozzie Newsome Award and Pop Warner College Football Award following the 2016 season.

Eleven Ole Miss players were selected in the NFL Draft during Freeze's time as head coach, including first-rounder Engram as well as D.J. Jones, Derrick Jones and Chad Kelly hearing their names called in the latest draft. In 2016, the Rebels had three first-round draft picks in Tunsil, Treadwell and Nkemdiche. Moncrief, Donte Golson, Fahn Cooper and Cody Core were also drafted over the last four years.

Before returning to Oxford, the former Ole Miss assistant experienced a record-setting run at Arkansas State.

With Freeze as head coach in 2011, the Red Wolves captured the Sun Belt Conference championship and became just the third school in Sun Belt history to finish undefeated in league play with a perfect 8-0 mark. The 10-2 overall record marked the program's first 10-win season since 1986, when ASU was a member of the I-AA Southland Conference.

In the best debut season ever by an A-State head coach, Freeze became just the 14th FBS first-year head coach to win 10 regular season games. He also returned ASU to a bowl game for the first time since 2005.

Freeze was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year, while 13 of his pupils earned all-conference honors. Freeze's first season in Jonesboro saw him serve as Arkansas State's offensive coordinator, guiding the Red Wolves' offense to a record-breaking year in 2010.

ASU, ranked No. 42 in the nation in scoring offense, finished the season averaging 30 points a game and recorded at least 20 points in 11 consecutive games for the first time in school history. Freeze's offense scored 46 touchdowns for the fourth-most in school history and the most since the 1975 season.

Prior to his arrival at Arkansas State, Freeze compiled a 20-5 record over the 2008 and 2009 seasons at the helm of the Lambuth University football program in Jackson, Tenn.

Freeze was named the American Football Coaches Association's Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 2009 after leading the Eagles to their best regular season in school history with an 11-0 record.

Under Freeze's direction, Lambuth won the Mid-South Conference West Division, advanced to the second round of the NAIA playoffs for the first time since 1999, finished the year with a 12-1 mark and ascended to the No. 6 ranking in NAIA.

The Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year oversaw the offense and called plays for a Lambuth team that averaged more than 40 points per game and ranked ninth nationally in total offense (465 ypg). The Eagles also ranked first in the nation in fourth-down conversions, fourth in first downs per game and third-down conversions, fifth in passing and eighth in scoring offense.

Prior to taking over as head coach at Lambuth, Freeze served on the Ole Miss staff from 2005-07, including the final two seasons as an assistant coach.

Before going to Ole Miss, Freeze served 13 years at Briarcrest Christian School (Memphis, Tenn.) as a classroom teacher, coach and administrator. He was the Saints' head football coach from 1995 to 2004, running the no-huddle "spread system" for six years that led to six straight state championship games.

Freeze compiled a 99-23 record while at Briarcrest, which included an undefeated season in 1996 and led the school to state championship titles in 2002 and 2004. Briarcrest won regional titles in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002, and Freeze was named the Region 8-AA Coach of the Year five times and Associated Press Coach of the Year four times.

Among his talented pupils during that period were eventual Rebels and former NFL starters Michael Oher and Greg Hardy.

Before assuming the role of head coach at Briarcrest, Freeze served as the teams' offensive coordinator and defensive backs coach from 1992-94, as the Saints reached the TSSAA state semifinals twice.

A 1988 graduate of Senatobia High School, Freeze received an associate's degree from Northwest Mississippi Community College in 1990 and was a two-year letterwinner on the Ranger baseball team. He earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in coaching and sports administration from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1992.

It was while attending USM that he became active in mission projects, serving as a missionary in Houston, Salt Lake City, St. Petersburg, Russia and Australia. Freeze also served as the state president for the Mississippi Baptist Student Union.

Born in Oxford and raised in Independence, Mississippi, Hugh, and his wife, Jill, are the parents of three daughters: Ragan, Jordan and Madison.

Freeze's Head Coaching Career By the Numbers

Ole Miss (2012-16) 1 – Top ranked scoring defense in the country in 2014 (16.0 points allowed per game) 2 – Alabama's national ranking when Ole Miss defeated the Crimson Tide, 43-37, in Tuscaloosa, Fla., on Sept. 19, 2015 marking the Rebel's first road win in the series since 1988 3 – Bowl game appearances (2013 season: Music City Bowl; 2014 season: Peach Bowl; 2015 season: Sugar Bowl) 4 – Top 15 ranked recruiting classes, including top-five classes in 2013 and 2016 5 – Wins over nationally ranked teams during a 10-win 2015 season 7 – All-Americans coached during his time at Ole Miss 11 – Ole Miss players selected in the NFL Draft during Freeze's coaching tenure, including three first-round selections in the 2016 NFL Draft 18 – Number of times Ole Miss scored 40 or more points in a game during Freeze's coaching career with the Rebels, including six games with 50 or more points scored 19 – Players who participated in mission trips to Panama and Haiti during Freeze's five years 20 – Players who earned All-SEC honors during his five-year coaching tenure at Ole Miss 27 – Consecutive weeks ranked in the national top-25 polls, the program's most consecutive weeks in the national rankings since the 1950s 40.8 – Points per game scored by Ole Miss in 2015, which ranked No. 8 in the country in scoring offense 45 – Total weeks ranked in the national top-25 polls during his time in Oxford, Miss. 48 – Third most points scored by a team in the history of the Sugar Bowl when Ole Miss defeated No. 21 Oklahoma State on Jan. 1, 2016 (Won, 48-20) 121 – Players who earned their degrees during Freeze's time as head coach 459.5 – Yards per game the Rebels averaged during Freeze's five seasons at Ole Miss 2013 – Grant Teaff Coach of the Year award winner 2014 – Finalist for the Bear Bryant Award and the Dobb Trophy

Arkansas State (2011) 1 – First 10-win season in the Arkansas State's time as an FBS program 3 – Number of times a team has finished a season undefeated in conference play in the Sun Belt Conference, including Freeze's 8-0 mark in 2011 9 – Consecutive wins during the Red Wolves 10-3 season 13 – Players who earned All-Sun Belt Conference honors, including both the league's Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year

Lambuth (2008-09) 8 – National ranking in scoring offense in 2009, averaging 38.1 points per game 10 – Weeks ranked in the national top-10 NAIA rankings in 2009, including a final season ranking of No. 6 11 – Regular season wins during the 2009 season, marking the first undefeated regular season in school history 16 – Combined weeks ranked in the top-25 national polls during the 2008 and 2009 seasons 446.6 – Yards per game the Lambuth in 2009, which ranked No. 10 in the country

Career Coaching Honors: 2013 Grant Teaff FCA Coach of the Year 2011 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year 2009 AFCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year 2009 Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year 5-Time Region 8-AA Coach of the Year 4-Time Associated Press High School Coach of the Year

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